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On the hunt for a Super Rugby return

Karmichael Hunt has gone back to the drawing board as he works towards a return to Super Rugby.

It’s been a frustrating season for Hunt, after a groin niggle turned into osteitis pubis, keeping him out of action for close to three months and counting

The 29-year-old is still a month away from returning to full training, having to change the way he moves as he works his way back.

“The osteitis pubis is an injury which takes time, it's requiring me to address some of the asymmetrical differences in my body,” he said.

“(There’s been) a lot of work on my glutes and inner core to stabilise my pelvis but it's coming along nicely.

Hunt had plenty of false starts on the recovery trail, called up to June’s Wallabies camp only to find out his injury was much worse than initially thought.

“I had the symptoms of osteitis pubis to start off with and they thought giving me a bit of a break it may settle down and I would be able to finish the season,” he said.

“But obviously I tried to get involved with the Wallabies camp and it just deteriorated pretty badly from there.”

Hunt hopes to make his return in the NRC for Brisbane City, after winning a title with the side under newly appointed Reds coach Nick Stiles last season.

“It's great and especially for a newcomer like me and when you throw in the team dynamics too where new players are being introduced to the club, it allows us to mesh and play rugby together without super 15 competition,” he said.

“We're looking forward to starting the season off again and obviously city having won back to back it’ll be good to go for a three-peat but we'll see how we go.”

Brisbane City has been the benchmark for the NRC in the first two seasons, with Samu Kerevi and NIck Frisby translating strong provincial form into a Wallabies debut.

“It just shows that it’s a legitimate pathway,” Hunt said.

The newly-launched Brisbane Global Tens could be his first hit out of 2017 for the Reds, with the 10 Australian and New Zealand Super Rugby sides facing off against four international powerhouses including French heavyweights Toulon.